Currently, a large portion of computing devices are increasingly becoming compact and in many instances portable. These computing devices include personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, web appliances, and other information devices. There has also been an increased desire to have these devices interconnected not only with each other but also with the Internet.
But smaller computing devices require smaller input devices. Touch-screens, touch-pads, and smaller keyboards are commonly being used for entering or inputting data or other information into these smaller devices. However, the current use of these smaller input devices has several drawbacks.
First, displaying a touch-sensitive keyboard on these smaller screens or using a smaller keyboard has resulted in keys too small for ergonomic comfort. In addition, the error rate associated with these smaller keyboards is increased compared to larger keyboards, while the overall input speed is decreased due to the accidental touch by the user of more than one key at a time.
Second, while the stylus, or pen based method has its advantages over the smaller keyboards, it currently requires handwritten symbols. These handwritten symbols are usually designed specially for use with a particular device and typically require the user to learn a new language of characters while also requiring the computer to translate the input handwritten characters into a known associated character. This type of input also increases the error rate and decreases the input speed due to either the user not knowing the new language and having to either stop and look at a conversion card or guess, or the computing device mismatching the input character with the wrong symbol. Moreover, if the user has poor handwriting, the error rate will further increase. The stylus is also often lost or misplaced, making input that much more difficult. To avoid some of the problems associated with a stylus, some users carry a larger keyboard to plug into their computing devices; nonetheless, these keyboards have additional weight and space requirements, sometimes defeating the portability purposes of having the small computing device.
Third, using a reduced keyboard disambiguating computer, which has a reduced set of keys, where each key represents numerous characters and/or numbers, is also inefficient for practical use. A disambiguating computer processes an entered keystroke sequence by matching the different combinations of letters associated with each keystroke to a stored list of words. The words matching the combinations of letters are then displayed for user selection. This method requires a user to enter a combination of keystrokes and then choose from a list of words. The list the user must select from is often quite long requiring the user to read through each potential choice to find the desired word. Additionally, by limiting the user to the set of choices provided by the computer, the user is limited in word choice as the user may not enter words that are not in the computer's stored vocabulary. This type of input, while reducing the error rate associated with the stylus, is much slower and often frustrating to the user due to the need to press a sequence of keys and then filter through a list of computer generated choices. Moreover, disambiguating computers, as well as stylus-based devices, may be less useful with different languages or when more than one language is used.
Fourth, the communication capabilities of these portable devices are important. While some are completely stand alone devices, limiting the information available to the user, other devices have the capability to communicate with each other and link up to personal computers to store and receive information. Still, the user is often limited to a small category of programs and devices that the user may effectively communicate with through the device.
Accordingly, with the current trend of portable computing devices and increased communications, it is desirable to create a device which solves the above disadvantages by improving the speed, accuracy and ease of inputting information yet still fulfills the goal of portability and interconnectivity.